Something Out of Nothing

Do you admire creative types who can make something out of nothing? I do. These are the people who take some of the same objects we all find surrounding us in our everyday lives and turn them into something special.

I had a wonderful aunt who would take balsawood mushroom boxes and paint them with winter scenes. These simple boxes would become the best looking holiday decorations imaginable. Containers most people would have discarded became magical treasures under her touch. Filled with pinecones, they could dress up any room. Something out of nothing, for sure.

This creative approach seems wise to embrace as we find Thanksgiving right around the corner. Sure, the supermarkets will welcome you on your fourth trip… the trip which follows your return for the pearl onions you forgot on your last pilgrimage to gather holiday fixings. But do you really want to make that trip? 

If you are like me and prefer to stay put, then please, please do not buckle under the pressure of thinking you have to go out and buy a centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table. Just make one. You’ve got containers and other items. You’ve got plants such as Peperomia varieties already growing indoors. You’ve got this!

In this same spirit, a few years ago at Thanksgiving, I filled my grandfather’s large wooden toolbox with mums I had on hand, plus numerous squashes and turnips. For the most part, the display was appealing, save for the fact I went a little too far with the veggies. (I fear that those who sat at my table that year might have wondered if they would be put to work cooking, considering the “ingredients” they saw before them.) But meaningful…? Well, that display certainly was meaningful for those who recognized that toolbox. So this year, I am going light on the squashes and turnips, but I am filling an old bushel basket with tiny pumpkins, a few satsumas to add more brightness to the mix, a Strawberry Begonia to give a pinkish glow to one portion of the display, and some Peperomia varieties to add a greatly welcomed pop of green to the ruddy tones that seem to become part of everyone’s palette in autumn.

I chose to use Peperomia plants because I have them around, growing in various containers. To avoid disturbing my Peperomia beauties too much, I placed them, containers and all, inside the basket. I was pleased to see that the tall containers kept the Peperomia plants high enough to be seen over the basket’s brim. I propped up smaller containers on bunched burlap, which I also used to cover gaps in the display.

Will family members who sit at my table know that the basket display in front of them contains a tall and heavy clay urn which has, for a long time, held my Peperomia Puteolata Parallel and Peperomia Albovittata Piccolo Banda? No, I don’t think so. I am quite sure that the only thing they will see is a nice display… right for the season, simple, and attractive. I have not purchased anything new, other than the satsumas, to create it. And this same approach could be used by other plant lovers and holiday revelers, not just with bushel baskets and Peperomia varieties but with other containers and plants. Re-use, assemble, relax, and admire.

Now, I mentioned Peperomia Albovittata Piccolo Banda: I have been thinking that my dinner guests may look my display and wonder why I have two Peperomia plants that are so incredibly tiny. But this particular Peperomia taught me a lesson in patience and hope. I had a nice, fairly large Peperomia Albovitatta Piccolo Banda plant until too much watering—watering even before the top layers of the plant’s soil had dried—wreaked havoc on it. Rather than throw out the roots that were attached to a completely disintegrated Peperomia plant-top, I divided the roots and placed them into soil in a new container. In no time at all, two fledgling Peperomia plants emerged. I am unsure how long it will take to get them to reach the size of my original plant, but propagation surely was simple… just a matter of waiting and hoping.

So, speaking of waiting and hoping: As you await the arrival of Thanksgiving Day, I hope you take it easy on yourself and focus on enjoying to a greater extent than you focus on prep-work. Grab a bushel basket, a mushroom container, or a wooden toolbox, and make something out of “nothing”. Become a real creative type like my aunt, and give thanks for the beauty that is just naturally all around.